About a month ago, I was really annoyed. I’m a huge fan of “everyday life” English history books. I have a special shelf in my office just for those types of books. You might notice two things about the above picture: Two books here are by Ian Mortimer. I’m a big fan. I’m missing a book about life in Restoration Britain. And that’s why I was …

Hurray, it’s Women’s History Month! In addition, March 8th is International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is Be Bold for Change. The 10 women in this article definitely knew something about being bold, as being a woman with her own business was an unheard of thing until, well, not all that long ago. Marie Tussaud When Marie Tusseau was very young, she and her mother …

I’m a sucker for lots of things, but FX’s gritty historical fiction series Taboo combines several of them. the Georgian era Tom Hardy a good heist Besides these three major perks of this show, it also included lots of extras that I didn’t expect but came to adore by the end of the season one finale which aired on FX on February 25, 2017. (There are …

Careers based in the history industry fascinate me. I recently had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Robertson, a book and paper conservationist based in London, Ontario. She was kind enough to answer some questions about her job and share some images with us. You can learn more about Jennifer’s work at her website. How did you become interested in this type of …

Any fan of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice has heard of Gretna Green, the small Scottish village just beyond the English border. Spoiler: Lydia writes to her sisters, telling them Mr. Wickham is taking her to Gretna Green to be married. Turns out going to Gretna Green to be married was not so uncommon during the Regency. A new law in England was instituted in 1754, making it illegal for a …

Since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, I think it’s time. Let’s talk about sex. I previously did a timeline post about the Salem Witch Trials. It was a fascinating way of seeing the build up to the event, the climax and then the descent back to normality, which reminded me of doing this type of post. WINK, WINK. Let’s go back to the beginning, shall we? 15,000 …

There were a few historical era names I wasn’t sure about: where they landed in history, why they were called that and what happened during that time. I investigated. Note: Many of these events relate to European (particularly western European). If you want to add some history to this post or if there is an era you think should be included here, leave it in …

While preparing my recent blog post on costume bloggers, I came across a blog post on A Most Peculiar Mademoiselle where she briefly mentioned joining a “letter exchange role play.” I contacted her to find out more info. She and a group of other Jane Austen (almost exclusively Swedish) fans gathered in a Facebook group. Each person creates a fictional persona, posts some details of …

I decided to pick up the audiobook for England’s Mistress: The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton by Kate Williams because I enjoy tales of 18th century aristocrats and, well, my young niece is named Emma Hamilton. And who doesn’t love a good story about a mistress? England’s Mistress is probably one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of Emma, Lady Hamilton …

It wouldn’t be the pre-holiday season without a lame-ass listicle featuring gift ideas. So here’s ours! Lovers of history range in their styles of showing that love, so here are a few varied ideas for different types of history lovers, the subtle history enthusiasts to the out-and-proud geeks. 1. Books This is probably the most “Well, DUHHHHH” item on this list. But I am going to …